I believe in UnrestrainedCompassion. UnreasonableLove. UnfathomableJoy. I believe in giving your whole heart to whatever you do. To feeling every moment, every word you say, every look you give. I believe in living a life of thanks, a life of giving back not because we can but because we must. I believe in living impractical, improbable, idealistic, unlikely dreams.
I believe in understanding each other. Looking deeper into people, into history, looking through the surface.
I believe in names and stories. Who are the 250 million child labors that work for pennies 12-16 hours a day in brutal conditions? Who are their parents, what do they think about, what does their smile look like?
Why is this man sleeping on a corner, how did he get here, why is my neighbor so bitter, how does she feel everyday, who loves her?
Who are the people that stole my suitcase of favorite things? Why do they steal, no really, how did this happen?
How did we get to a place where it’s okay to have extreme excess when 25,000 people die every day of hunger, and my 12 year old friend James lives in a house made of garbage?
How did it become okay to be a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew and to horde our stuff, to kill, to hate eachother? To be an American and not know anything about other countries, barley our own?
What is my responsibility? How do I contribute to this mess?
I believe. I believe. I believe.
I will do my best to live as I believe. To not only say I care, but live a life that cares. To not only cry for my brothers and sisters being raped, blown into pieces, terrorized in the Congo, Sudan, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan but to ask myself how I can help.
I believe in taking responsibility. I believe I have a voice. That my life counts. I believe in taking life by the horns and aggressively moving towards a better way. Not tomorrow, not when “I grow up” but now. I have my now. I give my all now.
I believe in we.
Katie
(I run a non profit called, More than Me. We work in Liberia, West Africa to get kids off the streets and into school, if you’d like to participate in the More than Me community or help a child get to school for the first time, check out our webstie: www.morethanme.org or send me an email! I’d love to talk with you! Katie@morethanme.org).
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